Review Of Drop.com.au

Continuing on with an analysis of current dropcatching platforms / Registrars. Under the microscope today is Drop.com.au.

These are a combination of my personal observations (having used their services for years); and other people’s comments to me.

Summary

First up, I’m a huge fan of Drop.com.au as a Registrar. The majority of my portfolio is kept with them, and I’ve never had cause for complaint. I also use their associated entity Fabulous (parking landing pages for monetisation).

If you’re looking for a “bells and whistles” Registrar, then Drop is not for you. No hosting; no forwarding etc – all you can do is change nameservers. But that suits me just mine.

They have three accredited Registrars in Australia – Drop.com.au; Fabulous.com.au and Yexa.com.au. I was told this morning that they’ve completed all ISS requirements, & are awaiting final tick of approval.

They are one of the oldest dropcatching services in Australia. In their prime, they were number one by a country mile. Sadly that is no longer the case. But they do win occasionally – and when that happens, it’s a wonderful thing! Particularly if you are the highest bidder with them. 🙂

They are the only dropcatcher with a totally transparent bidding platform. Bids are live; and you can see them listed as Bidder 1; Bidder 2 etc. Everybody – and I do mean everybody – loves this feature.

Their customer service sets them apart from the others. Based in Brisbane, the team of Cam, Katherine and Cassidy are always available by phone – and support emails are answered promptly. They even have a staff member on call over weekends to fix any urgent issues. They are the most helpful and friendly team out there imho.

Issues / Feedback

They are no longer putting resources into dropcatching. Whilst their system still runs every day, they basically need to get lucky to catch any decent domain. I’ve nagged Cam about this constantly for a couple of years, and he tells me that it is a matter of allocating resources. Unfortunately other aspects of their associated businesses seem to take up these funds, and dropcatching in the Australian market is no longer a priority for them. I sincerely hope that changes.

Their Change of Registrant process is a bit clunky compared to Netfleet and Domain Shield, but I’m used to it (though I wish they’d make it a bit easier for uninitiated buyers).

They do offer better pricing on their COR’s for readers of Domainer.com.au and DNTrade – but you have to get them to manually adjust invoice. That’s a bit painful in this day and age.

The “transfer in” process is not automated (moving domains from another Registrar to Drop). That has always been one of my biggest bugbears!

Final Remarks

My personal observation is that the team at Drop are great people to deal with. Nothing is too much trouble.

They have an excellent worldwide reputation through their associated entity Fabulous.com

If they could only get their act together “dropcatching wise”, it would be a perfect world. We need more competition! And remember, if you do want to bid on a dropping domain, cover your bases on all platforms – including Drop.

Should you wish to make any comments or suggestions, please do so here.

Breaking down that math that means if you do our minimum bid of $1 +GST ($0.10) plus have advantage of the $22 price – you can get domains in the auction from as low as: $23.10 – donesold.

While we’re not strongly competitive right now.I think we’re a good option for people targeting the less popular domains. Uncontested bids on Drop are not shown to other bidders, so your $1 minimums can grab you a bargain.

In any case, you should always keep your toe in the water for Drop’s resurgence.